What the elite skiers work on.........

[ForrestGump]

The same exact things as the rest of us! I thought I would share this because our skiers who are learning more of the basic techniques probably never consider this. I ski with Big Dawg skier Mike Munn a good bit. A month or two ago he said he struggled with turning too hard, unloading early and that was something he was really having to work on. Uhhhhh, yeah I do that too. And then a few weeks later I heard the exact same thing from Seth. Then today, Matt Brown tells me he's working right now on keeping his chest up through the edge change and moving his hip over the center of the ski, so he doesn't leave his hips behind. Yeah, I'm working on that too.

 

The point is, we're all working on the same things. And we all started at the same place. So there's no reason to think you're the only one struggling. Because the guys that are out there smoking 39 1/2 off and 41 in tournaments are struggling with some of the same things the rest of us do.

[Horton]

hmm

[UWSkier]

Whenever we fly somewhere, my wife insists on buying those trashy celeb gossip magazines at the airport shops. I noticed in one one time there's a section (I guess in every issue) about how "celebs are just like us." Usually shows celebs walking their dogs, shopping at Trader Joe's, etc.

 

Guess this is the skiing equivalent. Interesting.

[ToddF]

Isn't that what life is about?

Master the core fundamentals of what you want to do well, then go back refine and repeat.

The elite at their chosen endeavors don't do anything different than the rest of us, they just do it better.

[jcamp]

And here I thought Elite skiers just spent all their time worrying about who the boat driver was ...

[Tom351]

 

 

[WaterSkier12]

Bruce Dickinson-babies!!^^^^

Classic Walken!!!

Well played?

[bishop8950]

If there are 100 things a skier needs to do right when we ski, elite skiers may be working in the same three as an aspiring skier. I think the difference is the best skiers have 90 of the other items under control while aspiring skiers have less.

 

Like @BoneHead in my conversations with the worlds best skiers, it’s nice to hear they are working on the same or similar things. That said, I always learn something new in those conversations.

[MrJones]

There a no such things as advanced skills. Just fundamentals applied at an extremely high level.

 

One of my favorite quotes.

[ski6jones]

My kids had an electronic toy called "Bop It". Great game. When you finally messed up one of the things it would say was "Do it again, only better". I always think of that as I get to my hardest pass. Don't go harder, or do more, just do better.

[TEL]

I would rather work on running 41 than beat myself up trying to run a descent 28. It's not even their opener. :/

[ToddL]

I have said that each season my goal is to get one more fundamental "thing" burned into muscle memory than I did last season. It seams that each off season causes a handful to fade from muscle memory. I just hope that at the start of each season I lose fewer than I gained previously. (Go back 4, but then progress forward by 5. Rinse repeat each year...)

[emac]

I have been skiing with a very, very good skier for many years. He has told me everything I could possibly want to know to work on. I have watched him ski countless sets. My best skiing is his starting point. We are on different planets. We both work on getting the left foot in the front binding.....that is where it ends for me. I have to handicap it.....I get 10 extra feet and 2mph.

[A_B]

I think there are some basics that are needed to run a pass, like leverage through the wakes versus letting up before the wakes and a big turn, that most of us started with. Once those basics are mastered the speed increases and rope shortenings just make those windows to run a pass a little smaller each time.

 

A new set of windows needs to get opened up as the rope gets shorter and shorter, like advancing on the boat, counter rotation, reverse C, etc. All the while the boat just keeps going down the lake and those core skills must remain rock solid.

 

That’s why you don’t see many good skiers chewing gum at the same time.

[JackQ]

I believe the one distinction is that Elite skiers have a solid body position and work on other nuances.

 

But, what I typically encounter is that average and above average skier tend to concentrate and fret over relatively trivial aspects (hand position, counter rotation, optimal fin adjustment, etc, etc) of skiing. And they neglect the most significant fundamental element, your body position from completion of the turn, until and through the edge change. If you have decent body position and hold on to the handle you can run fairly short line, and then work on the nuances.

 

Working on body position isn't sexy, requires boring repetitions, and progress will seem slow. So most talk about it, but don't really work on. Chet Raley has a good video talk (on body position) that he gave at WPB a few years ago, that is floating around that should be reviewed by any skier, and become your skiing bible.

[Adam Caldwell]

I think the more evolved your technique gets and the deeper your understanding of they dynamics/mechanics/physics that are involved, the more you'll trust and believe in what you are working towards executing on the water.

 

I have found there are certainly a few very key fundamentals that are necessary in the course, not matter what the line length.

 

#1 - Skier to Boat timing. This isn't even a technique. It just takes "critical thinking".

 

#2 - Creating vertical space above the ski to allow hips 'space' to move forward over the feet and under the shoulders

 

#3 - Managing COM position over the ski and elevation above the water to maximize leverage over the hydraulic lift/drag produced by the ski while still being productive with the centripetal force from the rope.

 

I have been coaching skiers at 30mph 15off to 34mph/36mph 41 off on these exact concepts and seeing huge gains/improvements, even at 38/39off.

 

I put no effort in coaching turning, counter, handle position, etc. Those things are what I call "false" technique. They might sound and look great, but they are more a byproduct of other fundamental elements.

[JackQ]

Adam, You made my point about the futility of counter rotation, handle position much better I can. I am though having a hard time visualizing your #2, so I certainly am not thinking about it and most likely not accomplishing. Do you have an alternative way to conceptualize?

[76SS]

I interpret #2 simply as being tall on the ski. I physically can't move my hips forward if my knees are bent at a 90 degree angle. But yes, please clarify what you mean on #2.

 

[Adam Caldwell]

@JackQ

 

If your shoulders are close to your feet, your hips will be back. And they will stay back. And if you start tall, but do not stay tall, (because you suck your knees up through the edge change and do not continue the effort to “stand tall” then your body will be compressed and your hips will fall into the backseat into the preturn. Leaving you in a horrible position to translate body rotation into ski rotation.

 

Visualize the effort of standing out of a chair from a sitting position. It has nothing to do with getting your ‘hips up’. But instead, from a mechanical perspective, its about standing your shoulders as far away from your feet as possible. When we ski, its like standing from a chair with 600lbs sitting on the tops of your shoulders. If you’re not thinking about driving those shoulders toward the sky, then your not going to stand up out of that chair, and will forever be in a squat.

 

During the act of “standing up” your hips will naturally push forward as there is ‘space’ created between the shoulders and the feet for the hips to translate forward during the effort to ‘stand up’.

 

As this translates to a waterski; at all times, everywhere in the course, even during the pullout, the glide, the pull into the first wake, the edge change, the preturn we want our hips to ‘stay forward’ and over the middle of the ski. This will be an impossibility if our shoulders get pulled, or compressed toward the ski itself anywhere, regardless of the roll, attitude or angle of the ski. Sine the pull from the boat is acting to pull us across the ski, if we are not actively standing all the time, that means the space between the shoulders and the ski will shrink/compress, and the end result is the hips squeezing out the back.

 

Yes as @"76S&S" S&S stated, its about standing tall. What I have found to be the most profound and effective ‘phrase’ to help skiers get their hips forward is to quite literally, ‘stand the shoulders as far away from the ski as possible, and as high off the water as possible”. This almost becomes a vertical stretch like when your grandmother told you to stand up straight for a picture when you were a kid.

 

A lot of benefits will arise just from creating space between your shoulders and the top of the ski. The biggest one being the hips move ‘forward’.

 

Ive never told a skier “get your hips up”, and seen anything change. But Every single one I tell to stand the shoulders away from the ski to create vertical space, I immediately see the hips come up, and a much better skier.

 

 

[emac]

Very well said! I have been told and told myself hips up for 10 years.....finally sunk in this year when I slowed my speed down and started over again.

[Wish]

Adam thanks for the diff way of conceptualizing the montra of "hips up". For me it's never amounted to much change. I've just accepted I'll never be a stand tall skier. Now there may be hope.

[ToddL]

@adamhcaldwell - spot on! Tall, forward, and I'll add "still". I see too many skiers who move around a lot (forward and aft mostly) trying to make something happen. They typically do... the end of the pass before the exit gates. In all seriousness, what you wrote simply puts more ski in the water in a strong, efficient stance so that a still skier can ride an efficient, connected ski in the direction they have pointed it.

[Adam Caldwell]

@ToddL agree, Moving around is a sign your getting compressed and needing to stand back up. Nothing I recommend as a technique to be striving for.

[JackQ]

Adam, Thanks. For some reason I was trying to visualize "Creating vertical space above the ski' as in the turn. Although for the transition from preturn to turn, somewhat related to Andy's "imagine a rope in the sky tied to your head that pulls you up just before you drop into turn.